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Chess with Attitude

Phil Adams

"Games like this [Penrose-Botvinnik] (and there were plenty in this
tournament) impressed on me that 'wanting to win' was perhaps more
important than 'playing good moves'."

-- KEENE, 'Becoming a Grandmaster'.

"At that age (ten), the odd piece here or there
often makes little difference. Rather, ingenuity and the will to
win may prove decisive."

-- ZAK, Improve your chess results.

1) Draw?

Success in chess, as in all sports, requires not only skill but
other qualities such as determination and a positive mental
attitude. I thoroughly recommend Simon Webb's book Chess
for Tigers for help in developing the best attitudes for
competitive success.

For many years, British players were regarded as a
"soft-touch" by foreign masters because they lacked
stamina and determination and were too eager to accept draws.
Obviously, if a draw is all you need to win the tournament, then it
would be silly to play all-out for a win, but in general, if you
want to succeed in chess you need to get into the habit of always
playing to win and always being prepared, mentally and physically,
to play long, hard games. Some quotations to inspire you:

IM Simon Webb in Chess for Tigers:
"A game of chess is never drawn until it's drawn. (...) All too
frequently players agree draws in level positions, without
realising that there are ways of winning these positions against a
careless opponent."

American GM Andrew Soltis in Confessions of a
Grandmaster: "A few years ago, John Fedorowicz was
described as having become 'one of the deepest strategic thinkers
in American chess'. When I told 'the Fed' about that, he replied,
'Yeah? Well, my new strategy is just to stop taking
draws.'"

Soltis again, referring to the advice of American IM
Norman Weinstein: "'You can't expect to go through a tournament
without losing. Losing is part of the game, like hitting your clock
and writing down the moves. And you can't expect to do well just by
offering draws when you think you're in trouble or in an unknown
position.' I realized that I had become more concerned with not
losing than with winning. I decided to stop worrying about norms
and ratings and the gnawing feeling you get when you lose, and see
what happened. It worked."

Canadian IM Lawrence Day writing recently in the top
American magazine Inside Chess: "Imagine two
guys, one who always draws and the other who alternates winning six
and losing six. After a year, they have the same number of points
and the same ratings. The difference is that the risk player has a
big pile of money, while the drawmaster made nothing."

2) The will to win

From a discussion on the internet, plus some ideas gleaned from
Ariel Mengarini:

Many people love chess but somehow when they sit down to
play a match or tournament game, they find it difficult to produce
their best effort. Somehow they find it difficult to stay focused
and to summon up the necessary concentration. It is as if the will
to win has drained away.

Do this every time. Before you start play, think of these
3 things:

1) How much time and effort and money you have already spent on
chess.

I'd better win, otherwise that was all pretty stupid of
me

2) All the other things that you could be doing instead.

I'd better win, otherwise I am stupid right now for wasting
my time

3) How bad it feels to lose.

I'd better win, because I hate the feeling I get when I
lose!

NERVES

OK, you've decided to give it your best shot, you've worked on
building up your will to win. The problem is, you now feel nervous
and jittery, and now that is affecting your concentration! What
should you do?

You have to be able to come to terms with an important
paradox:

a) you have decided to devote some hours of your life
every week to chess; your time is valuable, therefore it is worth
giving it your very best, so concentrate!

b) yet, you must admit, in the "great scheme of
things", in the "big picture", the result of one game
of chess is utterly trivial, so RELAX!

So, the ideal is relaxed concentration.

Fear of losing

Everybody hates losing, but for good results it is important during
the game to play without any FEAR of losing. Negative emotions
affect your motivation and depress your level of brain efficiency.
A game of chess is a fight; you must learn to love the fight
itself, and play fearlessly.